


Bloody Genius

by SmolDargon



Series: Adventures in Anatomy [12]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Hospital Visit, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, anatomical discussion, serious injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:28:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29984247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolDargon/pseuds/SmolDargon
Summary: The human finally gets seriously injured on the job.
Relationships: Papyrus/Original Human Character
Series: Adventures in Anatomy [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205429
Kudos: 2





	Bloody Genius

**Author's Note:**

> TW for serious bodily injury, implied impalation, blood, hospital visit, IV lines, brief mention of needles, mention of past gunshot wounds. None are the main focus of the fic, but they're in there.

The facility was unnerving. Hospitals and labs always worried him. Even more so knowing his human was somewhere inside, and injured. She had been unable to avoid a trip to the hospital this time. A horse had spooked, throwing her into a badly oriented T-post. It wasn't the first time she'd had such an injury, but it was the first time she had experienced such great loss of blood. The dirty condition of the post had made his nonexistent skin crawl. Sans had shortcutted her to the hospital, being better at such magic, while Papyrus had caught the horse and returned it to its run, before driving over to the hospital to rejoin his brother and datemate.

One of the receptionists was able to explain the situation to the brothers. The post had impaled her in a rather fortuitous location; the lower portion of her abdominal cavity. Only one organ showed major damage, and thankfully, it was one she could live without. She was in surgery at that very moment having it removed, and the site cleaned and closed up. It would likely be a while, so the receptionist suggested the brothers visit the cafeteria and otherwise get comfortable to wait.

Hours later, a nurse informed them that the human was recovering from her operation, and seemed to be doing fine. The nurse had noticed the long-healed scar tissue on the human's torso, and asked for an explanation. Papyrus simply told the truth; the human had been shot on multiple occasions, and had never gone to the hospital for the injuries. Some had occurred before he knew her. That seemed to satisfy the nurse, and she explained that the human would likely need the night to rest up and recover, but she had been moved into an observation room, which the brothers could now visit. Technically, visiting hours were over, but lots of people stayed in the observation rooms with their loved ones. Papyrus hoisted a sleeping Sans onto his hip, and followed the nurse's directions to the human's room.

It was a relief to see his human. She looked much better, now that she had been patched up, but the IV line running from her arm was certainly a shock. She would likely be out for the night, so he set Sans down on the reclining chair, choosing the couch for himself. He didn't really want to sleep, but he was tired after such a roller coaster of events, so he laid down and let himself drift off to sleep.

He slept fitfully, waking anytime a nurse came in to check on their patient. He stayed quiet and out of their way, only inquiring if everything was going alright. It was easy enough to doze off again each time.

She woke up the following morning, woozy from the anesthesia and still a bit high on painkillers. Her gaze fell first to her left arm, and she blanched at the sight of the IV line. Luckily, her favorite skeletons were already up and about, and prepared to calm her down.

"look who's finally up. how're ya feelin', kiddo?"

She met his lazy grin with a baleful stare.

"Like shit."

"Well, Considering You Just Had A Big Hole Punched In You, That's To Be Expected."

She eyed the tall skeleton carefully, noting the barely concealed look of concern on his face. Groaning, she moved to sit up further.

"we would have brought breakfast, but the doctor says that's not a good idea so soon after surgery."

He hadn't made any terrible puns yet. She wondered if he was too tired, or if Papyrus had made him promise not to, in light of the circumstances.

"Yeah, sounds 'bout right... Eating too soon before or after anesthesia... It can make you a little queasy, and if you happen to vomit mid-surgery, there's a possibility you'll aspirate it. Can give yourself lung infections or even die from it. And... given the location of my injury, I doubt vomiting would feel good right now."

The doctor and a nurse came in to check up on her. The brothers stayed out of the way, but close by. It seemed she was doing as well as could be expected, though they wanted to keep her for observation another couple of days. She groaned, but agreed it was probably for the best, given how dirty that post had been, and thus how likely an infection was. Better to already be in the hospital if things go south, she figured. As the doctor was leaving, Sans stopped him to ask a question.

"so, what was so important about the o positive thing?"

Before he could answer, the human interjected softly, "He has other patients to see, Sans. And I can actually explain that for you."

Papyrus simply looked confused for a moment, so his brother explained.

"she knew she was probably gonna pass out before she got seen, she kept telling me to remember she was o positive."

The brothers sat on the couch together, curiously awaiting her explanation.

"Human blood has types to it. Basically, our blood cells have these little markers. It's the body's way of being able to differentiate between self and foreign. You can group blood two ways; the first is its ABO type. Blood cells can have either an A marker, a B marker, both, or neither. So you end up with four types: A, B, AB, and O. My blood cells have no AB markers, so I'm type O.

"There are also other markers, less important than the AB ones. They're collectively called Rhesus factors. They were first discovered in Rhesus monkeys, hence the name. Some people have them, others don't. I have them, so I am positive. To contrast, James had only B markers and no Rhesus factors, so he was B negative."

The brothers nodded understandingly. A simple concept so far. Her look of sadness at the mention of her late previous boyfriend was not lost on them, though she was quick to shake the feeling off and continue her explanation.

"The reason this matters is because if you give someone the wrong type of blood, it can actually kill them."

"I'm Sorry, Why Would You Give Someone Another Person's Blood? Don't They Need That?"

He looked bewildered, and more than a little concerned. Just who was out there freely bleeding for anyone?

"Well, if we lose too much blood, we can die. While our bodies will eventually make more blood cells, in a pinch, it may be necessary to give someone more blood. It's called a transfusion. Ideally, you'd match the blood type, for example, I would do best with O positive blood. However, if you don't have the exact type available, there are other options.

"The markers on the blood cells I mentioned earlier are called antigens. There are also other things in the blood called antibodies. An antibody is designed to attach to foreign markers, tagging the cell for destruction by the immune system. Antibodies are specific; they look for a certain marker. So if someone has type A antigens on their blood cells, they will have type B antibodies in their blood. This means that anything with a type B marker is a target for the antibodies. Therefore, someone with type A blood cannot receive a transfusion from someone with type B or type AB blood, since both of those have type B antigens. Make sense so far?"

They nodded. It was odd to see them both so quiet, but considering the fact that she was basically giving them a list of constraints, it was entirely possible that Papyrus was simply seeing it as a puzzle.

"So in my case, I have no antigens on my blood cells. I also have type A _and_ type B antibodies. That means I can only receive type O blood. The Rhesus factors are the same way; if you have Rhesus antigens, you do not have Rhesus antibodies. If you don't have Rhesus antigens, you do have Rhesus antibodies. So a positive person can receive positive or negative blood, but a negative person can only receive negative blood."

Papyrus jumped in triumphantly, as if he had just solved the world's greatest puzzle.

"SO, SINCE YOU'RE O POSITIVE, YOU CAN RECEIVE O POSITIVE OR O NEGATIVE BLOOD, BUT NOTHING ELSE!"

She smiled, "Precisely."

He continued, "THAT ALSO MEANS THAT ANYONE CAN ACCEPT O NEGATIVE BLOOD, AND A PERSON WITH AB POSITIVE BLOOD CAN RECEIVE ANY BLOOD TYPE!"

She was startled at how quickly he had figured that out, but also very pleased.

"Yes! Exactly! O negative is called the universal donor type, and AB positive is called the universal recipient type for that very reason. I knew you were sharp, but I didn't expect you to puzzle that out so quickly. Most humans take time to sort it."

He beamed. Of course he determined it so quickly, he was pretty great, after all. It seemed he was still listening, but Sans had dozed off in the chair again. She decided to continue her discourse in typing.

"Antigen-Antibody matching is also really important in organ donation."

And like that, she had lost him.

"WHAT."

"Organ donation. When someone give one of their organs to someone else."

He shook his head, "YES, YES, I UNDERSTOOD THE FIRST TIME, BUT WHY? WHOSE IDEA WAS THAT?!"

"No idea. But it has saved a lot of lives. Picture this: you've been born with a genetic lung disorder. It's going to kill you by the time you're in your twenties. Sure, you can treat it and manage it for a while, but it will end up killing you. But then, some kid gets into a car accident and gets some horrific brain injury. His body is alive, but his brain is basically flatlined. Decisions are made to take him off life support, as there's really no way to fix brain dead. Luckily, this guy is an organ donor. So, before they take him off life support, they harvest his organs. You get his lungs, and suddenly you have a whole new lease on life. You aren't going to die in your twenties, you can go on to live a long, full life. Some guy on dialysis gets his kidneys. A burn victim gets some of his skin grafted on. A diabetic with glaucoma gets his eyes. A hepatitis sufferer gets his liver. A child with a rare defect gets his heart. Yes, this one person died. There's no getting around that, and it is a terrible tragedy. But because he was an organ donor, his death changed the lives of dozens of people. Organ donation can take a horrific event and turn it into a feel-good story."

Papyrus begged to differ; the idea of taking organs from a corpse and shoving them into another person made him want to throw up. But she seemed so passionate, so earnest in her knowledge, he had to concede the point. He still wondered just who the hell decided to yoink an organ out of a corpse and yeet it into a live person. Surely, humans were the absolute closest thing one could get to a mad scientist.

"And you know, they don't have to pull organs from dead people. There are lots of organs that can be donated by a living person. I technically only need one lung to live. Same with my kidneys. I can donate one lobe of my liver and _it will grow back_. I can even donate a portion of my skin. It's honestly a wonderful advancement to medical science."

That sounded much nicer, the idea that one person could give just a little, rather than dying for it.

"AND, THESE ORGANS.... HAVE TO MATCH?"

She nodded.

"Yes, organs have lots of antigens and antibodies to deal with. There's really no such thing as a perfect match. In fact, the vast majority of people who receive organ transplants have to take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives to help keep their bodies from rejecting the organ. This does, however, make them more likely to get sick."

A thought occurred to him.

"SO, DOES THIS MEAN YOU ARE GOING TO NEED MEDICATION FROM NOW ON?"

She looked confused for a brief moment before realizing what he was really asking.

"Oh, no. Blood doesn't work that way. A match is a match. And besides that, these blood cells won't stay in my body forever. They will eventually die off, and my body will replace them with more of my own."

He considered this for a long moment.

"HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT FOR YOU TO HAVE THE CORRECT BLOOD TYPE?"

Quietly, she responded, "The wrong type could have killed me. If I received blood with type A or B markers, the type A and B antibodies in my blood would have all attached to the foreign blood cells. It would cause the blood to agglutinate, or clump together. That can form a life-threatening clot, big enough to stop blood flow entirely."

He fidgeted nervously.

"IT'S A GOOD THING YOU HAD THE PRESENCE OF MIND TO TELL SANS YOUR TYPE, THEN. AND A GOOD THING HE REMEMBERED."

"Indeed."

He was still extremely unnerved about the whole concept. People taking organs and fluids from one and sticking it in another sounded absolutely barbaric. It was like the earliest doctors had just gone ham on some corpses and peasants and hacked them to pieces, hoping for the best. Given what little he knew about human history, he figured that was probably an accurate assessment.

"Stars Above, Humans Are Goddamned Terrifying."

She just laughed, a violent, barking sound that sent chills down his spine.

"You have _no_ idea."

**Author's Note:**

> You think it's the skeleton that's scary, no. It's the MEAT!


End file.
